Winning an award is always a momentous occasion. Winning it a few times indicates you are doing something very right. Winning an award 14 times in 20-25 years…well that is outright dominating.

The town of Feilding lies about 20 minutes from Palmerston North, but at least by reputation, is a world away. Feilding has won the distinction of ‘New Zealand’s Most Beautiful Town’ 14 times, so I figured a visit on my way to Wanganui was worth the small detour.

For a town of 14,000, the downtown felt like it caters to far more. That’s probably because it is so nice and open. The downtown streets are good and wide, and have plenty of parking. Which, by the way, is for unlimited time and free (a pretty novel concept in NZ!). No traffic lights to slow down traffic (not exactly unheard of for NZ towns though). Plenty of tasty cafes touting their caramel slices for me to sample. And very clean and well kept. For mid day (11 in the morning), the place felt alive too. There was a warm, vibrant feeling to the small town.

I didn’t stay too long. But it was a pleasant detour. Nice place to live I imagine.